


Life Day Ghosts

by pretchatta



Category: Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Life Day (Star Wars), Post-Canon, Post-Star Wars: Return of the Jedi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-12 12:40:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29135694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pretchatta/pseuds/pretchatta
Summary: As Hera prepares for Life Day, she thinks of her family.
Relationships: Hera Syndulla & Jacen Syndulla, Space Family (Star Wars Rebels)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 18





	Life Day Ghosts

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by [roninreverie](https://roninreverie.tumblr.com/)'s [excellent Jacen Syndulla art](https://roninreverie.tumblr.com/post/638941654869540864/the-next-request-from-the-1000-follower-art).

The Twi’lek people had come by the traditions of Life Day from the Wookiees, when the latter had come to the aid of Ryloth during dire circumstances. It was a day for celebrating what you had, however little, and revelling in it. It was about joy, harmony and love.

Most importantly, it was a day for being with family, but Hera Syndulla was long used to spending it without the most important members of hers. She'd had 36 without her mother, and 15 without Kanan. She’d stopped counting how many her father had missed long before she’d left Ryloth behind for the stars -- although, after her return home and their reconciliation, he’d started making an effort to accept her invitations. 

There had been 5 without Ezra, before Sabine had brought him back to her, and one of those had been missing Sabine and Ahsoka too, as they scoured the Unknown regions for him. But once he was back, and her family no longer needed to fight for the galaxy’s freedom, she’d had a good run of years surrounded by the ones she loved most. 

Then, life had continued, as it was wont to do. Zeb and Kallus started spending alternate years on Lira San with Zeb’s people; Sabine’s Mandalorian family had started mending the rift between them; Ezra and Ahsoka started turning their focus towards rebuilding the Jedi Order. The only constant on board the Ghost, aside from herself and Chopper, was her son, her baby boy. Her Jacen.

This year, though, that was all going to change. For the first time in a long time, she was going to spend Life Day alone. It wasn’t entirely from lack of choice -- in fact, she had been the one to suggest to her family that they delay their celebrations until everyone could come together properly. 

After the fall of the Empire, the New Republic had adopted the traditions of Life Day as an official holiday, and with each passing year the meaning of it had grown. Now it was a time for prioritising aid and humanitarian efforts, and so all of the former Rebel Alliance pilots were busy, her crew included. There were myriad supply runs to make all over the galaxy, delivering food, medicine and materials for rebuilding the destruction caused by war and greed.

Jacen had taken the Phantom on his first solo mission. Hera had tried to insist that he was too young for one, but she had been overruled instantly by reminders of how young _she’d_ been when she first started flying for the rebellion. From there the conversation had quickly devolved into reminiscing about all the trouble Sabine and Ezra had gotten into as teenagers, and then Jacen had asked Ahsoka to tell him stories of what his father would have been doing at an even younger age, and Hera had long since admitted defeat. 

It was only her maternal instincts at work; her son was a brilliant pilot, and it wasn’t like there would be stormtroopers or Inquisitors after him. It wouldn’t even be his first trip to Kessel; he’d come along as her co-pilot many times, as there was a lot of work to be done in repairing the damage wrought by the spice mines. What the planet needed most of, however, was seeds, which meant frequent, small-sized deliveries; the Phantom was the perfect choice for such a mission.

No, it didn’t matter that her family wasn’t with her right now; they were all doing their own part in making the galaxy a better place. All that mattered was that they would be together again in less than a standard week, and then they would celebrate, because the calendar day itself wasn’t important. Family was.

Even so, the Ghost felt a little too quiet with no-one else there. Chopper had joined Jacen, at her own insistence -- _someone_ needed to watch her son for her. She didn’t even have the hum of the hyperdrive to fill the silence -- for her supply run, she’d taken the tricky job no-one else had wanted. Her delicate cargo could only be moved at sub-light speeds, and was also sensitive to long-range transmission waves. She’d waved away any concerns over getting lonely on the journey; she’d done countless solo missions in her life, she could manage this one just fine.

There was very little work to do around the ship, and Hera wasn’t feeling like sitting down to read or watch a holo, and so she found herself finally turning to the task that she’d been putting off. There was only one more night cycle to go until the actual day itself, after all.

She retrieved the crate from one of the long-term storage compartments and heaved it onto the dejarik table in the common area before opening the lid. A familiar and not unpleasant scent greeted her, bringing with it a flood of memories.

Inside the crate were over 20 years of Life Day decorations.

Most of them were Life Day Orbs, in just about every variation imaginable. There were the traditional Ryl ones that she’d had ever since she left home, and even a few from Kashyyyk; they were the oldest. There was a collection of truly hideous ones that she’d always meant to get rid of, until she couldn’t bear to. Those ones Kanan had bought, during his early days on the Ghost; once he learned she celebrated the holiday, he’d immediately found a market to buy some. At the time, she’d rolled her eyes at him for not taking it seriously, but inwardly she’d found it sweet that he wanted to celebrate with her. 

Then there were the bland, basic ones she’d bought to replace Kanan’s atrocities when Zeb had joined them, in an attempt to show him that they were respectful about the holiday; the Lasat had inherited the tradition as much as the Twi’leks had. Next to those, looking almost comical in direct comparison, were Sabine’s brightly-coloured artistic creations she’d made herself. Some of them might even have been the worst of what Kanan had bought, under the extra paint. 

There were a few that Ezra had bought, wanting to join in on the tradition and cement his place in the family, that looked like loth-cat heads. He’d always insisted on hanging them up last, so they went in front of anything else. The small smile that had formed on her lips grew as she found the traditional Lasat ones Zeb had made himself, after he allowed himself to reconnect with his past. Her family had done so well, to find each other and heal each other from their varied, painful pasts.

But a good half of the box was full of her personal favourites; the ones Jacen had made on each of his 15 Life Days. Or rather, in the case of the first few, the ones she had made for him -- but they bore his tiny handprints, and one even had a smear of paint that he’d managed to make with his nose.

He’d made a green one for her, a multicoloured one for Sabine, a striped one for Ahsoka... Every member of her family had a handmade-by-Jacen Life Day Orb; even Kanan. His was pale blue, decorated with loth-wolves and bearing a single word in shaky, childish handwriting: _DAD_.

She set about putting them all up, allowing the happy memories to wash over her as she did so. She focused on the joy her family would feel when they arrived to an already-decorated ship, and not on how much she wished they were all here with her, doing it together as they usually did. Usually decorating was a group activity, joyous and raucous.

As the crate slowly emptied, she noticed something lying at the bottom of it; a small data drive. She picked it up curiously, unable to remember what was on it, and took it into the cockpit to plug it in to the terminal there. 

It was full of photos, articles and songs from all over the galaxy that she’d collected for Jacen. From his very first Life Day she wanted to teach him its importance, and she’d even included a few recordings from Life Days on board the Ghost before he was born. They were bittersweet memories of the time when her family was whole, and together, when they had been blissfully ignorant of the hard times ahead. 

As she flicked through the contents of the drive, she came across a poem. It was in Ryl, and she instantly recognised it as the one traditionally told to children at bedtime; _The Night Before Life Day_. She had recited it to Jacen every year, even when he was a teenager and tried to protest, but by that point every member of the crew had it memorised and no-one allowed him to sleep until he’d heart the whole thing. It had received a a few modifications over the years, but the first few lines were still recognisable to anyone who knew the original:

_Twas the night before Life Day, when all through the ship_

_Not a system was malfunctioning, not even a blip._

_The orbs were hung in the cockpit with care,_

_In hopes that the whole family soon would be there._

_The crew were nestled all snug in their beds,_

_While visions of space-nebray danced in their heads._

She switched the screen off, smiling to herself. How lucky was she, to have such a cornucopia of golden memories. Life Day was always a special time of year, and even though this year would be a little different, she was grateful beyond words for the happiness her loved ones brought her. 

She put the finishing touches to her decorations and tidied the now-empty crate back away before getting ready for bed. In the dark, she whispered the poem to herself, and imagined that Jacen could hear her from light years away.

***

The next day -- Life Day -- she woke suddenly, and at first she wondered what the cause was. The chrono beside her bed told her there were only seven minutes to go until her usual alarm went off, so she decided she might as well get up. 

As she pulled an old robe on over her sleep clothes, the niggling feeling that something was off wouldn’t leave her -- she was sure it was what had caused her to wake. She checked the cockpit, but everything was fine in there, so she turned to head to the galley. Maybe some caf would help her think.

She reached the common area just as the door to the Phantom’s airlock slid open. The split second it took her to register that this should not be happening was long enough for someone to step through the doorway.

Someone she recognised instantly.

Tears of joy sprang to her eyes, and she let out a sound somewhere between a gasp and a sob. 

"Jacen!"

She rushed to cross the room, and the tears spilled down her cheeks as she wrapped her arms tightly around his chest. He was almost as tall as his father now, and she could barely get her chin over his shoulder. He hugged her back, chuckling lightly.

"How come you’re home so early?" she asked without letting go.

She felt him shrug. "It didn’t feel right to leave you alone on Life Day!"

"You could have told me you were coming."

She could feel him getting restless, so she finally released him, but only to arm’s length. His long, green hair was pulled back from his face in a similar style to the one Kanan had always worn. She drank in the sight of her son's mottled skin, teal eyes and the light dusting of early stubble on his chin.

"I kinda wanted it to be a surprise," he said, shifting uncomfortably under the intensity of her gaze. "Also, it was a bit of a last-minute decision."

"What about your supply run?"

"Oh, I spaced the cargo to make sure I’d be home in time."

" _Jacen Syndulla--_ "

"Kidding!" he interjected quickly. "I found a shortcut and managed to finish earlier."

He was lucky she’d learned to love that sense of humour when his father had had it, she thought to herself. She folded her arms and gave him an unimpressed look.

"A shortcut, huh?"

"Yeah, Han told me about how he managed his record the time he made the Kessel Run, and it... gave me an idea." He flashed her a grin that he hadn’t inherited from either of them; it was uniquely Jacen.

She raised an eyebrow nonetheless. "I thought I'd already told you what I think of Han Solo's flying lessons."

"I'm here in one piece aren't I?"

She rolled her eyes at him instead of answering.

"Besides... I made it in 11 parsecs."


End file.
